First Encounter
by AMBC
Summary: After wondering into a haunted house, the mercs and Miss Pauling are in for a lot of trouble. Now, they must find a way to escape with the help of a lonely wizard, while fighting off what they fear most. Perhaps some friendships will be strengthened from all this. Prequel to The Jewel Saga. Corrections by beta reader LilyRosetheDreamer.


**First Ecounter, also known as:**

**How the Nine Mercenaries of Reliable Excavation Demolition had the Misfortune of Meeting Radlee Ragde for the First Time in a Haunted House.**

**Consider this a late Halloween Fic.**

_October 1969, the week of Halloween._

Merasmus was not in the best of moods today.

Not that he usually was, particularly when it came to a certain helmet-wearing patriotic roommate, but this was a an entirely different case. It seemed that Merasmus was always in the worst of moods around Halloween, when he would take his pent up rage on a certain group of mercenaries. Again, these moments of outbursts were usually caused by the same roommate.

Soldier, having been his roommate for some time, was the one who noticed that the old wizard always seemed on edge around Halloween. He figured Merasmus was still upset about having the Japanese mafia after him, or maybe he was mad about not getting the early bird special in that restaurant down in the town he loved so much. There were a number of things to be angry about, especially for a wizard like Merasmus. He could never catch a break, it seemed, and Soldier, being the dutiful roommate that he was, decided to try and lift his spirits.

But knowing Soldier, it's not gonna work out.

"SOLDIER!" Merasmus shouted, green particles dotting the area around his eyes, "What did you do to my paint set?!"

The wizard angrily stormed about the house, determined to find the culprit of the montrosity in his bedroom. You have no idea how close he was to strangling his roommate to death.

"Oh, there you are, Merasmus! Did you see your gift I made you?" That same stupid smile was plastered on the Soldier's face; the smile he always sees and dreads. It meant the idiot was up to something, or in this case, has done something.

"Gift?" He asked quickly, too prepared to release his anger to focus on anything else for too long, "What gift?"

"The one I made in your bedroom!" Soldier said, his teeth glistening.

At his response, a bolt of anger struck down the wizard's spine, causing his body to tremble furiously. Under normal circumstances, he would've settled to just placing a curse on the Soldier. But because it was the week of Halloween, and Merasmus was in a particularly foul mood during that week, he took his anger out on Soldier's entire team.

Fast forward to an hour later, when we see Soldier hiding in a shed and calmly explaining to Spy and Scout their current predicament while the rest of the team fought off Merasmus.

"...and that is why we are fighting Merasmus again!" Soldier concluded cheerfully.

The Spy facepalmed while the Scout, somewhat perplexed, replied, "You really need to find a better way of dealing with your roommate, Sol."

"I know. Luckily, I came prepared this time." Soldier stepped out of the shed, towards the battleground and bellowed, "PRIVATES, ATTACK!" As if on queue, over two dozen snarling raccoons, led by Lieutenant Bites, appeared out of no where and charged at the wizard.

"DAMN YOU, SOLDIER!" Merasmus screamed as the first raccoon pounced, soon followed by the rest.

As the shocked mercs watched the wizard being eaten alive, Soldier said proudly, "I taught them how to do that."

Oh, yes, the wonders of Soldier's mind.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Teufort, a giant house suddenly appeared out of no where, through a vortex of magical energy. It landed in the middle of a ditch, overlooking the town full of lead-poisoned idiots. The house chuckled, <em>"Oh, yes, this will be the perfect place to bring out the fear in mortals. Soon, I will have this town brought to its knees, with no one stopping me!"<em>

As the house let out a maniacal laugh, it failed to notice a lone raven flying out from the lower window. A raven with a written parchment held firmly in its talons.


End file.
